Girls Swim has had a very successful season as they prepare for Districts, Regionals, and eventually States. The team is set up very well for Districts, as they have won all of their meets against teams in their District. Their only two losses come from teams outside of their District, this gives them a very good chance of being successful in the District Meet on February 8th.

An early loss against 3A Independence provided motivation for much of the season. Coach Schlemmer said, “I think that kind of helped us kind of recharge and say, wait a minute, we got we actually have to work so and then every for a team that we have. We’ve actually come away with a win.”

Senior captain Ashley Bogushefsky emphasized the tightness of the team, “The dynamic, especially on the girls’ side, is we’re very, very close. We cheer for each other, I think it definitely encourages the people who are swimming to go faster.” She continued, “I think we’re underestimated because our team is pretty small. But [that] never stopped us because we are very close.”

There are very high expectations for the team going into districts, as senior captain Rachel Schlemmer, who will be swimming at the Naval Academy next year, said, “As a team, hopefully, we can win both Districts and Regions this year. We came in second last year and the team that won is actually not in our district anymore.”

Coach Schlemmer also expressed similar goals, “Our ultimate goal for both the boys and girls team is to win Regions.” She continued, “Of course, we’d like to win districts as well. But we’ve had to use a slightly different strategy going into districts because we’re trying to get as many kids as we can, from Districts into Regions.”

In order to win Regions, Coach Schlemmer has been strategizing with putting some swimmers outside of their comfort zones. She explained, “Sometimes that means that the kids aren’t necessarily swimming their best events, but I’m trying to put them in event that I think that they have a chance of scoring top eight. If you score top eight in Districts, then you get to advance to the Region meet.”

Still, with Districts right around the corner, the team is preparing for a competitive meet. “That’s just going to take a lot of motivation and pulling everyone up so they can have good races,” Rachel Schlemmer said. As a captain, Rachel Schlemmer is working hard to get the team ready for upcoming competitions, “[I am] helping them be [in] the best mindset that they can be in because mental preparedness is just as important as physical preparedness.”

When it comes to States, the team hopes to win big in many events. “We’re hoping to repeat as 200-yard medley relay champions, which would be really fantastic [and] we think that we may win the 200-yard freestyle relay,” Rachel Schlemmer said. Both of these events are swam by Ashley Bogushefsky, Rachel Schlemmer, Natalie Schlemmer, and Kelli McMillan,the same relay team who won the 200-yard medley last year at States.

Other potential top places include, “Rachel Schlemmer at the fly potentially, Natalie Schlemmer at the breaststroke potentially, Ashley [Bogushefsky is] doing really well on the butterfly, the backstroke, and even the 50 free potentially. Kelli [McMillan] has a great shot of placing [in the] top three potentially at States,” Coach Schlemmer said. “Hopefully a couple of us will place really high in our events if not win them,” Rachel Schlemmer said. Bogushefsky said, “I think it’s really exciting for the postseason to be able to swim together again and be able to try to recreate the state championship win that we got last year.”

With Districts, Regionals, and States being three weeks in a row, this takes a large toll on the swimmers. “[There are] Districts and then we have regions and then we have State and it’s a lot of racing for the swimmers to be able to be up and racing at their peak performance,” Coach Schlemmer said. These consecutive weeks of swimming also affect Coach Schlemmer’s strategy going into these meets, she explained, “I don’t want to burn them out by making them race their same event over and over again for three weeks in a row. So I’m kind of having to balance that just a little bit with the kids swimming, what events and what meets and trying to have like an ultimate team goal while allowing individuals to pursue their goals.”

Coach Schlemmer praised the massive dedication of her team. She said, “I think what people don’t realize about these top swimmers that swim, they practice hard all year round. Most of these kids that are going to be placing first, second and top real estate, their dedication just lies to the sport and they love swimming for their school.” This dedication often requires a lot of sacrifice by the swimmers, “Most of these kids are getting up at four o’clock in the morning, working their butts off [for] two hours in the morning with their club teams, go to school, and during the season, then they’re coming to me at night, working again, working really hard.”

The girl’s swim team is very talented, and there are many new faces that students and fans should look out for. As Schlemmer explained, “Watch for the outside smokes because I feel like there’s a lot of people who just don’t really know their full potential. And at these upcoming meets, they’ll really realize what they can do,” she continued, “I think they’re going to surprise themselves with what they can do [and] do stuff that they never thought they would be able to do.”

The regional meet will take place on February 15th, and States will take place on February 20th, 21st, or 22nd.